Blog Posts

Trading is like other businesses where you can achieve better results if you can achieve synergy. Synergy refers to using various parts of a portfolio in ways that help support and reinforce the other. We talked in separate articles about how having differentiated, uncorrelated returns streams in a portfolio and balancing and blending them well […]

Valuation multiples are a key component of financial modeling in assessing the value of a company. It is based on the idea that similar assets will tend to sell at similar prices, equivalent to the concept of how three-bedroom/two-bath houses sell for around the same price as others in a particular geographical area in a […]

Free cash flow to equity (FCFE) is another discounted cash flow model of how to calculate company valuation. It is a measure of how much cash can be provided to equity shareholders of a firm when all expenses and debts are accounted for (i.e., levered cash flow). In a way, it is similar to dividends. […]

Inflation generally causes the Fed to tighten monetary policy. This impacts asset classes by removing liquidity from the financial system.  Namely, the process of raising interest rates and/or slowing the pace of central bank asset purchases slows money and credit creation. This is the point at which you often see the classic moves that mark […]

FCFF is an acronym for “Free Cash Flow for the Firm” or “Free Cash Flow to the Firm” and represents a measure of financial performance related to cash flow. The popularity of the FCFF valuation model stems from its ability to obtain an accurate valuation of a firm based on a collection of basic inputs. […]

First, let’s cover some basics about how central banks and their processing of raising and lowering interest rates impacts currencies. What is a tightening cycle? A tightening cycle involves the central bank of a country raising interest rates. For example, if it was believed to be good for the economy, the Fed may raise its […]

There is technically an unlimited list of fixed payment items that could fall under the classificational of an annuity. Annuities go beyond personal finance and into the business, trading, and investing world – and anywhere fixed payments are a part of the financial landscape. We will go over one of the main forms of annuities, […]

When it comes to M&A strategy, there are three primary drivers of why companies want to acquire another business or merge together. Let’s go through each of them. Scale/growth Over 80% of company executives consider scale-up acquisitions a part of their strategic model for accelerating growth. This M&A strategy refers to mergers and acquisitions that […]

Investing in gold is not usually the first allocation priority in most people’s portfolios. It does, however, have an important role to play when it’s allocated in the right amount that can both enhance returns and reduce risk. Gold is treated much closer to a monetary asset or a currency than a commodity subject to […]

The rises and declines of empires is important to understand because we’re in the middle of a big shift going on currently. Studying how these have worked is important in terms of understanding how it impacts capital flows, and the risks and attractiveness of different assets, asset classes, currencies, and different countries.  Below we’ve distilled […]